Nancy Elaine Turner was born in Dallas, Texas
and grew up in Southern California and Arizona. She began writing
fiction as an assignment for a class at Pima Community College and completed a
Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts Studies in
1999 with a triple major in Creative Writing, Music, and Studio Art. She lives in Tucson with her husband and Snickers, a dog rescued
by F.A.I.R. She has two married children and
four brilliant grandchildren.
She also enjoys the outdoors, theater, movies, and antiques.

"Writing
historical fiction is much like working on a term paper every day. My
story is never far from my mind. I create characters by
mingling traits of people. I love all my characters, too, especially those
with complexity that makes them seem all the more real. I
believe the locale of a story can be as much a part of the book as a character, and
I use
settings I know well enough to describe in detail."

These Is My
Words, (ReganBooks/ HarperCollins 1998) uses
the love of learning as a major plot element
in a story inspired by her great-grandmother, Sarah Prine. It is
set during a time in Territorial Arizona when life was hard and tenuous. The
story is a portrait of the
courage and perseverance of one woman, and a love affair that will never be
forgotten.

Sarah's Quilt,
(Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin's Press 2005) the
long-awaited sequel to These Is My Words returns to Sarah's
family in 1906 after three years of drought have devastated her
ranch. Caught between the choice to save her land and the
love of a good man, Sarah faces dark challenges of territorial
life where everything hangs in the balance. It is a saga of love,
connection, and the gift of family.

The Water And The Blood,
(ReganBooks/ HarperCollins2001) On Halloween night in 1941, a group of high school
kids burn down a church. Frosty Summers is willing to do
anything to be part of "the gang." Not
until she puts her feet into the Pacific Ocean does her awakening gives her strength to lose everything
to stand against that gang.